It’s
October!!!
October is already
here and with it comes L.A.’s subtle shift into the fall season and the reality
that the holidays are coming soon. When I say that, I don’t mean to scare you
but history proves that once Halloween is over, time just seems to fly by. For me, I always feel like it’s a cruel
trick. Just when we think the
children are safely “settling in” to their new routines at school, a holiday
that identifies itself with spooky things, creepy crawlers, and dark scary
surprises enters the scene. It’s
not something that we can ignore, either…even if we want to. Just down the street there is a scary
witch with a green face that moves when you touch her hand!
Halloween has
become such an adult holiday and people think it’s all about having fun. Unfortunately, not all our children
will be laughing. There has been
much debate about how to address this holiday in appropriate ways to children
who, in these preschool years, are in the preoperational stage of development*
Over the years, we have adjusted our schedules and curriculum to reflect what
we see happening with the children during this time and we feel we’ve been
pretty successful in supporting them…and still have some fun doing it.
In the NSW
tradition, we will once again be having our Halloween Parade.
This year it’s on Friday, October 30th and starts at 9:30 when we open the gate on Venice Blvd. to
start our walk up and down May St.
Children who don’t come on Fridays will meet us out front and join the
group. Parents and special friends
can walk with us, too. We won’t be
stopping to “trick or treat” on our parade, however, we’ll just be waving to
our friends and neighbors. It has become
quite a sweet community event (so we don’t need more candy!) and we hope you
can take an hour out of your morning and join us.
Because the parade
day is really different and the energy can be very high, we work really hard at
keeping a sense of calm. With
that, it’s important that you stick to your morning routine of saying goodbye. We’ll have morning circle at the usual
time and if you can join us for the parade, we’ll meet you out front when we
exit the gate. Children can come to school wearing their costumes but bring a
change of clothes for after the parade if your child wants to change.
About the
costumes: It’s important to
remember that though masks might be fun for some children, they are scary for
others and even something as “cute” as a Mickey Mouse mask can be upsetting. Preschoolers are still in the stage of
development when they are not sure what’s real or not real and it’s for that
reason that we ask that you and your children refrain from wearing masks. Keep in mind, too, that costumes should
be fun and not so elaborate that the children can’t enjoy them. Accessories, though great for the
moment, just might be a burden and often get lost so remember that when planning for costume ideas. Please know, too, that if your child
does not want to “dress up”, that it’s important to respect that. It’s hard to remember that it’s not
about you, anymore, isn’t it? This
is about what feels right for your child.
I have put
together some articles that I’ve found helpful when working with young children
who are dealing with specific issues.
Check them out in the “Parenting Articles” of our blog page. In the “Fantasy and Fear” article, the
author speaks about “gradual desensitization” and the importance of exposing
children, little by little, to their fears. With this theory in mind, we will be introducing many
experiences in which the children can touch and feel and see unfamiliar things
at their own pace. Throughout the years, I have dressed up as a witch and lead
the parade. Because it’s really
important that the children know that I am still Roleen, I put on my costume
with them for weeks before the event.
This year, the teachers will be dressing with the children and we are
adding costumes, sewing, and face painting into our curriculum to support the
dialogue and feelings that go along with all the changes that are happening
around us.
What we’ll also do
is create spaces where the children can experience darkness and we’ll have
flashlights available for them to feel “in control” of their world. We’ll bring out the rubber spiders,
snakes, bats, and masks and have them available to touch and feel at will. And here’s something you might not have
thought of. . .we’ll be carrying this over until after Halloween. We’ve learned that very often children need to “play out”
situations or incidents that might have occurred after actually experiencing
certain events first hand. Hearing
and talking about an event is one thing.
Actually living it is another.
Thanks to Trader
Joes’ donation, we are beginning to feel the signs of the season. Feel free to
join in the celebration and bring in little pumpkins, gourds, squashes, and
other Fall fruits and vegies of all sizes so we can lift, weigh, measure,
estimate, carve, smell, taste, cook, roll, count, paint and, well, it’s endless
all the things we can do. Don’t
forget, too, that we want to bring our “outside world in” and that means we
need to see, touch and feel the changing of the trees in our neighborhood. Start looking up, down, and all around
and collect what you find. You’ll
be surprised what you can gather in quantities ready for open-ended
exploration. We’ll have baskets
ready for beautiful leaves, pods, pinecones, and, well. . .surprise us.
Happy Fall to you
all! Roleen
*Preoperational
thought is Paiget’s term for the second period of cognitive development. Children in this stage of thought are
usually between the ages of 2 and 7.